Popular Hostess snack cake turns 80 on Tuesday

IRVING, Texas - One of America's most popular and well-known snack cakes, the Hostess Twinkie, will celebrate 80 years on Tuesday.

Over the years, the Twinkie has had a remarkable journey that has spanned television and film, given rise to urban legends, and, by presidential decree, come to represent an “object of enduring American symbolism.”

The Twinkie came to fruition in the midst of the Great Depression by putting idle shortcake pans to work when strawberries were not in season.  Back then the treats were sold two-for-a-nickel.

The Twinkie has evolved over the past 80 years, and today it has its own cookbook.  The Twinkies Cookbook, is an inventive recipe collection featuring everything from Twinkie Pancakes to Twinkie Burritos and, yes, and entire chapter dedicated to “Twinkies and Meat.”

Twinkie manufacturer Hostess Brands Inc. reports approximately half a billion Twinkies a year consumed by Twinkie fans all over the world.

Twinkies by the numbers:

· 500 million: The number of Twinkies baked each year.

· 10: The minutes it takes to bake a Twinkie.

· 1930: The year James Dewar invented the two-for-a-nickel treat.

· 150: The number of calories in one Twinkie.

· 50: The number of recipes in the Twinkies Cookbook.

· 7: The number of Twinkies needed to make the “Patriotic Twinkie Pie” recipe in the Twinkies Cookbook.

· 1: The rank of New Orleans in terms of per capita Twinkie consumption compared to other U.S. cities.

· 1999: The year President Bill Clinton included Twinkies in the millennium time capsule.

· 26 days: The shelf life of a Twinkie.

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